The cross country team were inspired and honored to have a top runner in their presence and speak to them about his personal life while giving advice.
The cross country team held a meet and greet with the top championship runner Thomas Valles, at the Grangerland Community Center on Sept 1. The students were inspired with his life stories and the way he got to where he is now.
Senior Morghen Vawter had many things to say as he could not forget all the inspiring things he heard from the top runner Valles.
“It was fun to meet someone that has similar experiences,” Senior Morghen Vawter said.“One thing I couldn’t forget was how he was telling us how he grew up and all the things he had to go through”.
Valles had a very complicated life growing up on his path to become an athlete, but what he went through was what pushed him to become a better runner. He grew up with a drunken father and Valles would contemplate suicide. But he met someone that helped him and put him back up on his feet. He also had many challenges in school growing up but he managed to overcome the difficulties in his life and become a great runner in history.
Valles focused on the idea that anything is possible even throughout the troubles and hardships that life has to offer. “no matter where you come from, no matter who you are, or what happens to you,” Vawter said,” you can still be successful like he was, and you can still be on that level.”
Junior Allyson Alvarez said “His times were really bad”, as one of the things she could not get out of her head from Valles’s life story. ”But keep pushing yourself past your limits even though it gets really hard at times,” Valles said.
Not only did he demonstrate his experiences through his words but through the movie Mcfarland, USA. The students didn’t only meet a top runner, but they meant a person that was involved in many students around the world’s childhoods. “He was the real guy. He wasn’t an actor, ” Vawter said ”He was the real person.”
The meet and greet was a special occasion for the students as they got to learn the hardships a professional runner has to go through. “I would love to see him again,” said Vawter “He was very inspirational to the team.”. Valles was someone special to the cross country students in which they will never forget as an inspirational person to them. The members loved getting the chance to meet Valles, and would most certainly love to see him again and hear more stories of how he got to where he is now.
“It’s just amazing how some human has the strength to pull off what he did” Senior Emmanuel Tamayo.
